Syria shutters displacement camp Rukban, symbol of Assad regime, people's suffering
Between 2018 and 2019, the number of displaced people in the camp reached 50,000, most of them women and children, according to a Syrian media report.
Syria has moved to close Rukban, a large internally displaced persons camp that was long a symbol of suffering in the country.
The camp was in southern Syria near the Jordanian border. Tens of thousands of Syrians had crowded into this camp. It was in the desert and lacked basic services. Nearby was a US army camp called Al-Tanf Garrison, where there was a small US-backed Syrian rebel unit during the Syrian Civil War.
Most of the people who fled to Rukban were from Homs, the Damascus countryside, Palmyra, and Deir ez-Zor regions.
Now the Rukban camp has closed, according to Syrian officials.
This was made possible by the six months of rule by the new Syrian government. That government came to power when the Assad regime collapsed. The Assad regime was responsible for the suffering and civil war that led to many people fleeing to Rukban. As such, those people can now return home without fear of persecution or arrest.
Syria's Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh confirmed on Saturday, June 7, that the closure of the Rukban camp marks the end of one of the most severe humanitarian tragedies that displaced Syrians have endured over the years, Syria's Al-Ikhbariah reported.
Salah is a well-known figure. During the civil war, he was director of the White Helmets, the Syrian civil defense group that helped people in rebel-held areas. As such, he sees this as an achievement because of his deep knowledge of what IDPs went through in places like Rukban.
US Congressman French Hill praised the move in a post on Twitter/X.
'This is amazing news that these Syrians are now able to return to their families and villages. After more than a decade of Assad's brutal regime, freedom of movement has returned. Thanks to the US Army and the humanitarian groups, like Arkansas's own Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), that facilitated essential food and medicine to enter this remote and beleaguered place. May God bless those headed home to start life anew.'
The SETF posted that the camp was closed and showed the small homes that had previously served the people, which were now empty and covered in the khaki color of the desert dust.
Hill visited Syria in 2023, one of the few Americans to visit the country at the time.
At the time, he said, 'Over the past seven years, I have worked tirelessly as a voice in Congress for the innocent people of Syria who are being brutally murdered by Bashar al-Assad's regime. I am proud that the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a non-profit based in central Arkansas, which I represent in Congress, has been a strong advocate in leading humanitarian efforts in the region.'
He noted that, 'alongside Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), on Sunday, I had the pleasure of visiting both the beautiful children of SETF's sponsored school for orphans, the Wisdom House, in northwest Syria and their sponsored healthcare residence for chronically ill Syrians, the House of Healing, in Gaziantep, Turkey.'
He also spoke at the time about the need to help 'dismantle the production and trafficking of captagon' in Syria. 'As a co-chair of the Friends of a Free, Stable and Democratic Syria Caucus alongside Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), I will continue my work in Congress on the issue of Syria and its future. I thank the amazing, dedicated staffs at the Wisdom House and House of Healing for their incredible work in helping the Syrian people and for all Arkansans who support the SETF-backed organizations helping Syrians throughout the region,' he added. Now he has seen this work come to fruition. He praised the fall of Assad in December 2024.
Salah also posted on social media about the importance of closing Rukban. He spoke about ending the suffering at the remaining IDP camps. 'The Rukban camp was subjected to a suffocating siege from all sides by forces of the former Syrian regime. Jordan also closed its borders and halted regular aid deliveries in 2016 after a cross-border ISIS attack killed seven Jordanian soldiers,' Al-Ikhbariah noted.
"Between 2018 and 2019, the number of displaced people in the camp reached 50,000, most of them women and children. The camp witnessed the deaths of several children, including infants, due to a lack of medical supplies and freezing temperatures during the winter,' the report added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Windsor man, accused of being Israeli spy, imprisoned in Lebanon for six days
OTTAWA — What was supposed to be the end of a groundbreaking eight-day excursion for a Windsor man turned into nearly a week in Lebanese custody, facing accusations of being an Israeli spy. Enduring feces-caked cells, witnessing torture and enduring endless interrogation, Dan Brotman was eventually released — but the seasoned world traveller said he'll be more judicious about future travels. 'I've been to all of the Arab countries, except four,' the 38-year-old told The Toronto Sun. 'I'd love to return to Lebanon once they've signed the Abraham Accords, and I'll continue to travel to all regions of the world, I just won't do countries that are enemies of Israel anymore — I'm too exposed and now I'm too scarred from this experience.' The ordeal began in early May, when Brotman — part of the largest western tour group since the 2024 fall of the Assad regime — travelled to Syria for an eight-day excursion, exploring the country's dwindling Jewish history. 'From Beirut, we drove an hour and a half to Syria,' he said, adding he'd travelled to Lebanon before without incident. Problems began upon re-entering Lebanon from Syria. 'The guard takes my passport and scans it — he's staring at his screen,' Brotman said. 'And then he says, 'Come with me.'' Brotman was told not to worry and he'd be on his way in five minutes. 'They asked me, 'Have you been in the Israeli army?' and at that point I can't lie because if they're asking me, they know — so I said 'Yes.'' Brotman, originally from Boston, moved to Israel, making Aliyah at age 18 and — like all Israeli citizens — was conscripted into the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) for mandatory military service, serving three years in an administrative role. He spent a decade in South Africa before moving to Windsor, where he's in the final stages of obtaining Canadian citizenship. Brotman's past IDF service was enough for Lebanese officials to detain him as an Israeli spy. Confiscating his watch, wallet and phone, Brotman was shackled and thrown in a dark, windowless cell. 'I was just waiting there, I didn't know exactly what I was waiting for.' His tour leader eventually visited, saying the guards planned to transport Brotman to Beirut. The soldier accompanying the tour leader then started pointing at Brotman, shouting that he was an Israeli spy. 'They forced the group to leave the border and continue to Beirut, but before they did, they made each participant write down their mother's full name because they wanted to know who might have a Jewish mother,' Brotman explained. What followed was a six-day ordeal of filthy cells, little food, and endless interrogations about his life in Israel, and his military service. His captors also forced him to sign statements in Arabic. Brotman, who holds American and South African passports, was detained by the Hezbollah-linked Lebanese General Security — equivalent to the CIA or CSIS — and housed in a cell with no toilet, lights, blanket or running water. 'We went through eight-hour interrogations daily,' he recalled. In a diary he secretly kept in custody, he recalled a guard named Hussein who was kind to him, spoke of his uncle in Brampton and bought Brotman food. Brotman also overheard guards torturing and performing mock executions on prisoners in adjacent cells. Brotman comforted himself by singing Nyet Nyet Nikavo — a Jewish song affirming faith in God whose Russian title translates to 'No, No, Not to Anyone,' It took days to meet with American embassy officials, who convinced his captors to remove the handcuffs he'd worn constantly for days. Six days into his ordeal, Brotman was brought before a judge who told him he'd be able to leave in three days — so he was surprised to find out later that night his departure would be immediate. 'I was blindfolded, put in handcuffs, driven through Hezbollah territory near the Beirut airport,' he said, dismayed to find his promised escort from the U.S. embassy never showed up. Iran regime change the only path forward, Iranian-Canadians say Another group adds to call for Canada to take Iranian threat seriously 'They said they were going to meet me when I was released, to make sure I actually got on the plane.' His plane to the UK eventually departed, and he returned home. Convinced his detention was illegal, he plans to file a complaint with the United Nations — but says the mental and psychological scars will take a long time to heal. 'I know the UN doesn't do much, but it has to be on record,' he said. 'I'm part of a much longer chain of people in Jewish history who have been detained or imprisoned simply because of who they are. If Lebanon wanted to, they could have just refused me entry — there was absolutely no reason for Lebanon to break international law, to deny me due process and hold me for as long as they did.' bpassifiume@ X: @bryanpassifiume0
Fox News
6 hours ago
- Fox News
Trump teases 'loading up' Abraham Accords with new nations after Middle East shakeup
President Donald Trump said Sunday that other nations have suggested they would like to join the Abraham Accords amid recent Middle East shakeups that saw Israel and the U.S. inhibit Iran's nuclear ambitions during what has been coined the "12-Day War." "We have some really great countries in there right now, and I think we're going to start loading them up, because Iran was the primary problem…" the president told Maria Bartiromo during an exclusive "Sunday Morning Futures" interview this week. "We had a period of time when I thought Iran would join the Abraham Accords along with everybody else, and, frankly, they would have been better off than where they are right now," he continued. The Abraham Accords, which sought to normalize relations between Israel, Sunni Gulf States and North African countries, was signed at the White House during the first Trump administration in September 2020. US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said last Wednesday that expanding the accords is one of the president's "key objectives" and predicted that the administration will have some "big announcements" on countries coming into the accords soon. Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt named Syria as one of the nations the president was keen to join, noting their historic meeting in Saudi Arabia earlier in the year. "When the president met with the new president of Syria, that was one of the requests he made for Syria to sign onto the Abraham Accords," Leavitt said. One of the largest Hebrew-language outlets, Israel Hayom, recently reported that Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said the Middle Eastern countries most likely to join are Syria and Lebanon. Trump responded to the prospect of Syria's entry on Sunday. "I don't know [if they will join], but I did take off the sanctions at the request of some of the other countries in the area that are friends of ours. I took off the sanctions on Syria… the sanctions are biting. They're very strong, and we have sanctions on Iran, too…" Middle East expert Eugene Kontorovich, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., recently told Fox News Digital, "With Iran humiliated, Lebanon and Syria are quite realistic, but I would be impressed if it were soon, as in months. I do expect them to make peace with Israel and come into the Abraham Accords during Trump's term." He added that "Syria could be possible simply because the new government has so much to gain, as it seeks legitimacy."
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sudan civil war overwhelms border town in neighbor Chad as refugees find little help
ADRE, Chad (AP) — Fatima Omas Abdullah wakes up every morning with aches and pains from sleeping on bare ground for almost two years. She did not expect Sudan's civil war to displace her for so long into neighboring Chad. 'There is nothing here,' she said, crying and shaking the straw door of her makeshift home. Since April 2023, she has been in the Adre transit camp a few hundred meters from the Sudanese border, along with almost a quarter-million others fleeing the fighting. Now the U.S.- backed aid system that kept hundreds of thousands like Abdullah alive on the edge of one of the world's most devastating wars is fraying. Under the Trump administration, key foreign aid has been slashed and funding withdrawn from United Nations programs that feed, treat and shelter refugees. In 2024, the U.S. contributed $39.3 million to the emergency response in Chad. So far this year, it has contributed about $6.8 million, the U.N. says. Overall, only 13% of the requested money to support refugees in Chad this year has come in from all donors, according to U.N. data. In Adre, humanitarian services were already limited as refugees are meant to move to more established camps deeper inside Chad. Many Sudanese, however, choose to stay. Some are heartened by the military's recent successes against rival paramilitary forces in the capital, Khartoum. They have swelled the population of this remote, arid community that was never meant to hold so many. Prices have shot up. Competition over water is growing. Adre isn't alone. As the fighting inside Sudan's remote Darfur region shifts, the stream of refugees has created a new, more isolated transit camp called Tine. Since late April, 46,000 people have arrived. With the aid cuts, there is even less to offer them there. 235,000 Sudanese in a border town Adre has become a fragile frontline for an estimated 235,000 Sudanese. They are among the 1.2 million who have fled into eastern Chad. Before the civil war, Adre was a town of about 40,000. As Sudanese began to arrive, sympathetic residents with longtime cross-border ties offered them land. Now there is a sea of markets and shelters, along with signs of Sudanese intending to stay. Some refugees are constructing multi-story buildings. Sudanese-run businesses form one of Adre's largest markets. Locals and refugees barter in Sudanese pounds for everything from produce to watches. 'There is respect between the communities,' said resident Asadiq Hamid Abdullah, who runs a donkey cart. 'But everyone is complaining that the food is more expensive.' Chad is one of the world's poorest countries, with almost 50% of the population living below the poverty line. Locals say the price of water has quadrupled since the start of Sudan's civil war as demand rises. Sudanese women told The Associated Press that fights had broken out at the few water pumps for them, installed by the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. Even food aid could run out shortly. The U.N. World Food Program says funding to support Sudanese refugees in Adre is guaranteed only until July, as the U.S. aid cuts force a 30% reduction in staff worldwide. The U.N. refugee agency has seen 30% of its funding cut for this area, eastern Chad. Samia Ahmed, who cradled her 3-year-old and was pregnant with her second child, said she has found work cleaning and doing laundry because the WFP rations don't last the month. 'I see a gloomy future,' she said. Sudanese try to fill aid gaps Sudanese are trying to fill gaps in aid, running private schools and their own humanitarian area with a health clinic and women's center. Local and U.N. authorities, however, are increasing the pressure on them to leave Adre. There are too many people here, they say. 'A vast city,' said Hamit Hadjer Abdullai with Chad's National Commission for the Reception and Reintegration of Refugees. He said crime was increasing. Police warn of the Colombians, a Sudanese gang. Locals said it operates with impunity, though Abdullai claimed that seven leaders have been jailed. 'People must move,' said Benoit Kayembe Mukendi, the U.N. refugee agency's local representative. 'For security reasons and for their protection.' As the Chadian population begins to demand their land back, Mukendi warned of a bigger security issue ahead. But most Sudanese won't go. The AP spoke to dozens who said they had been relocated to camps and returned to Adre to be closer to their homeland and the transit camp's economic opportunities. There are risks. Zohal Abdullah Hamad was relocated but returned to run a coffee stand. One day, a nearby argument escalated and gunfire broke out. Hamad was shot in the gut. 'I became cold. I was immobile,' she said, crying as she recalled the pain. She said she has closed her business. The latest Sudanese arrivals to Adre have no chance to establish themselves. On the order of local authorities, they are moved immediately to other camps. The U.N. said it is transporting 2,000 of them a day. In Tine, arriving Sudanese find nothing The new and rapidly growing camp of Tine, around 180 kilometers (111 miles) north of Adre, has seen 46,000 refugees arrive since late April from Northern Darfur. Their sheer numbers caused a U.N. refugee representative to gasp. Thousands jostle for meager portions of food distributed by community kitchens. They sleep on the ground in the open desert, shaded by branches and strips of fabric. They bring witness accounts of attacks in Zamzam and El-Fasher: rape, robbery, relatives shot before their eyes. With the U.S. aid cuts, the U.N. and partners cannot respond as before, when people began to pour into Adre after the start of the war, U.N representative Jean Paul Habamungu Samvura said. 'If we have another Adre here … it will be a nightmare.' ___ For more on Africa and development: The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
